The Desert Rose
by Acea Rukojou
Summary: Acea Rukojou appears to be your average kunoichi, but looks can be deceiving! And upon meeting a certain sand ninja, everything changes.The summary sucks, but give it a try! This is set kind of after the timeskip. It's GaaraXOC and a couple of others.
1. Enter the New Sand Ninja

(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in the anime or manga. But if I did, Gaara is soooooooo mine…. But I do own Ami, Jason and Freddy, Hiroshi, Rin, and Acea. My friend came up with the idea for Kana, based off of herself ) and this is a semi-alternate universe. The pairings is GaaraXOC and other main charactersXOC.)

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Ami skipped merrily to the Hokage's office, followed by her two dogs, Jason and Freddy. This would be her first day in Konoha. She had just transferred here from the Sand Village and today would be the day that she'd be introduced to the Hokage, the greatest ninja of the Fire Country.

A small smile crossed her face when she entered the room outside the Hokage's office.

She was promptly sent in, and was greeting warmly by a woman with long blonde hair pulled back in pigtails.

"Ami Suma, welcome to Konoha. I am Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, I hope that you're training here will go smoothly."

Ami smiled as she held out her visa and transfer papers for the Hokage to look at.

Walking over to her desk, Tsunade looked them over.

"I'll get someone here immediately to escort you through the village and get familiar with your new surroundings…."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled, and went back to looking at the papers.

"It says here that you have two team mates. An Acea Rukojou and a Hiroshi Ronin. Where are they?"

Ami tried to hide her smile, but knew that it would be pointless to hide anything from the older woman.

There was a loud commotion in the outer room and a young girl in her teens rushed in. Her long burgundy hair was in disarray and she tried to control her shallow breathing. She had a blank tank top like shirt, with black shorts and a brown apron-like covering over the front. She had brown shoulder pads and fingerless gloves that came almost to her elbows, that were also covered in the same brown fabric. She had boot-like shoes that came to her knees, the same color black as her shirt. Her headband was worn on top her of her head, like a certain pink haired ninja Tsunade knew.

Tsunade arched an eyebrow as she inspected her.

"Acea Rukojou, I presume?"

Acea forced a smile as she bowed.

"My apologizes for being late, Hokage-sama. I was…delayed."

She sent a death glare to Ami, who only smiled a little too innocently.

**Flash back to this morning**

Acea dosed in and out of consciousness, and hadn't even noticed Ami wake up, or turn off her alarm clock. When she finally did wake up, she was late for her meeting...

**End flash back**

"I see, well, then where is-"

A young man stepped into the room, his black unruly hair hung over his ruby eyes. He had long black pants and a dark jacket, with a leather collar, with the sand tribe symbol dangling from it around his neck. His headband shone through his jet-black bangs.

"-Hiroshi Ronin?" She finished as she rose to greet both of them.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled as she continued, "Like I was saying to your teammate, you will be escorted through Konoha with a guide. Ami, I'll be putting you with Kiba. He knows his way through Konoha pretty well. And you..."

She gestured towards Acea.

"You will go with Hiroshi. If I recall correctly, you have been here before."

He nodded, and Tsunade walked back to her desk.

"Alright then, your sensei should be arriving soon, and Kiba should be here by now..."

There was a loud thump coming from the outside room and a white dog came barreling in. Riding on top was a young man around their ages, with red fangs painted under each eye, his spiky brown hair sticking in all directions.

"Ah, thank you Kiba for coming so quickly."

Kiba smiled as he dismounted his dog.

"What can I do for you, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"I would like you to take one of our friends here and show them around Konoha."

Kiba looked a bit disappointed that he wasn't being given an A-class mission like he had been hoping, but agreed anyway.

"Okay, who am I taking?"

Tsunade pointed a slender finger at Ami.

"You'll be showing Ami here around. It looks like she has some dogs too, so I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about."

Kiba stared at Ami for a second; surprised he had not noticed her earlier. Walking over to her, he extended his arm, which she gladly took.

"So you have dogs?"

Ami blushed and pointed to where Jason and Freddy where peering curiously at the white dog.

"Come on Akamaru, let's show them some of the sites."

Akamaru yipped an affirmative and soon they were gone.

Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief as she sat back down at her office.

"That boy has so much energy, I hope your friend will be able to keep up."

Acea and Hiroshi exchanged glances.

"I think Kiba will be lucky if he can keep up with Ami." Hiroshi explained as he took Acea's arm.

"I'll show Acea around now, thanks again, Hokage-sama."

Acea and Hiroshi bowed as they turned to leave.

"Oh and one more thing."

They turned to the blonde Hokage.

"There will be one more sand team coming. They're from the capital so I don't know if you know them or not…"

Acea shrugged. There were a lot of Sand Ninja they didn't know.

As they left the building, Hiroshi leaned over to Acea and asked, "She turned off the alarm clock again?"

Acea nodded stiffly.

"Again."

She turned to her friend. Just about every girl in class at the Sand Academy had had a crush on him. The collar of his dark jacket covered a good portion of his neck, but Acea knew why. She smirked as she eyed the dragon tattoo that was curling around his shoulder and went down his back.

"Listen Acea, try not to get yourself in trouble here. You're new; try not to screw up okay? You can't afford having a bad rep here, especially with the distrust between the Sand and Leaf Tribes."

Acea rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed, but really appreciated her friend's concern.

"And what about you? I seem to recall a certain someone assisting me in my trouble making… what happened to him? Did he go respectable?"

The look on Hiroshi's face was one that was mixed with annoyance and amusement. He stopped, and her looked her right in the eyes.

"Who said anything about going respectable…"

Acea felt her face warm at the comment, but also from the fact the Hiroshi was so close.

Something, or actually, someone knocked into her, and she started to fall, but Hiroshi caught her.

"Hey, watch it, loser!" she yelled.

Her eyes blazed with anger as she got up to see who had pushed her.

Standing not too far from her, with his arms crossed was a young man roughly her age with red hair, and a tattoo on his forehead that said love. His clothes were obviously that from a Sand Tribe, and the gourd he wore on his back had a belt with the Sand Tribe marking engraved on it.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the one who knocked into me, idiot."

The young man didn't budge, his turquoise eyes never leaving her's.

"Well you shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the road, you moron."

"Hey Gaara. What's up? Who's your new friend?"

The one called Gaara looked over Acea's shoulder and saw his friend, Naruto.

Hiroshi, who had been holding Acea back from punching Gaara, stepped in.

"This is Acea Rukojou and I'm Hiroshi Ronin, she and I just got here from the Sand Tribe."

The introductions were made, and they spent the next five minutes learning a few things about Gaara and Naruto.

"Well, now that that's over with, how about some ramen?"

Gaara rolled his eyes as he looked at his friend.

"One thing you should know about Naruto…. He's obsessed with ramen."

Naruto smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I like ramen… so what? You like…Wait, I don't know what you like Gaara."

Hiroshi laughed.

"Well then, let's go find some ramen. I'm starving."

Naruto jumped up and down, "Oo oo oo, I know the best place in town. Follow me!"

Rin Chika watched her young students from the roof of a building, as the gentle breeze blew threw her long black hair. There was a slight noise behind, but Rin had sensed the presence long before.

"You mask your presence well. But I think that even an arrogant ninja like you has a lot to learn about silent infiltration."

She didn't even bother to turn around to see who it was.

"Forgive me then, for not meeting your expectations."

Rin's eyes opened wide in shock. There was no way that voice belonged to just any ninja… Turning around, she was merely an inch away from a dark green vest. Looking up, all she saw was one eye; a leaf tribe headband covered the other. A mass of grey hair covered the man's head, and a mask covered the lower half of his face, and his eyes shone with a playful light.

"Kakashi Hatake?" (A/n: Come on, everyone knows Kakashi…)

His one visible eyebrow lifted slightly in surprise.

"You have the advantage then since you know my name, but I don't think I've met you before…"

"Rin Chika."

Kakashi made a slight bow.

"So what brings a Sand Ninja like you to Konoha?" he asked, leaning his back against the railing.

Rin pointed down to where Naruto, Gaara, Acea, and Hiroshi were all eating ramen at the ramen shop.

"There are two of my students there, Acea Rukojou, and Hiroshi Ronin. And I can't be sure where my youngest student got off to. We're here for training to help form better relations with the Leaf Tribe."

Kakashi nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer.

" My student Naruto is there too. I have two others, one training under the Hokage, and the other a redeemed missing-nin."

Rin looked up at the ninja before her, surprised that he would talk to her like this.

"I see. How long have you been their sensei?"

Kakashi seemed to get a far away look in his eye before turning to face Rin. His gaze caused a chill to run through her body. This confused and disturbed her greatly. This sensei seemed to have a very odd effect on her.

"Sometimes it seems like forever."

Rin stifled a laugh, something she almost never did, laughing that is. He looked at her a little surprised.

"I'm sorry did I say something funny?"

Rin shook her head.

"No, it's just that it goes the same for me."

"Oh" was all he said before turning around and looking at her. An awkward silence filled the air, until Rin cleared her throat.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Kakashi Sensei…"

"Just Kakashi."

Rin smiled, "Alright, it was nice meeting you Kakashi. Till we meet again."

With that she disappeared in a cloud of dust. Kakashi watched in fascination as he saw the figure of Rin running on the ground over to where her students were eating their lunch. He considered jumping over there and beating her, but decided against it. There will be another time to prove his abilities.

Acea listened intently as Naruto babbled on about the different missions he and his team had been on with Kakashi. Gaara just sat quietly as Naruto rambled on and on. There was something very unsettling about that young man but she couldn't quite lay her finger on it. He turned his gaze and noticed her staring at him. She looked away quickly, feeling her heart start to race.

"Whatcha guys up to?"

The voice startled Acea and Hiroshi, but neither tried to show it.

"Hello Rin Sensei, when did you get here?" Hiroshi asked.

She smiled as she sat down next to him. Acea perked her head up from her ramen, and gave her sensei a quick nod of acknowledgement.

"Not too long ago. Who are these guys?"

Acea put down her chopsticks and said, "Gaara, Naruto, Rin Chika." And went back to her ramen.

The two boys bowed their heads.

There was the sound of throat clearing.

Turning around slowly on her stool, she was now face to face with the sophisticated sand ninja, Baki.

Like Kakashi, he had only one eye visible only with a two red marks under it, while his other one was behind a sheet hanging from his headband. And his eye was definitely not as kind as Kakashi's had been.

"And you are?"

He bowed. "I am Baki, former Sensei to Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou. Now I am the bodyguard of the new Kazekage."

"…."

"And you are?" He looked her over with an evaluating eye.

"**Well** Acea-chan, Hiroshi-san, I need to go, but I'll see you tomorrow. Meet me in the morning by the training field okay?"

They both nodded an affirmative. And with a bow to Baki, she walked away from them.

Kakashi stayed there on the roof for a while before turning to go back his group. Rin. That had been the name of a comrade he had had long ago. But this Rin was different, very different. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep her very far from his thoughts. She had insulted him by belittling his abilities; he'd just have to show her how talented he really was.

A gentle breeze blew through the village, but it grew stronger with each minute. Dark clouds covered the once clear skies, threatening to empty its contents on city. He watched as people hurried indoors from the impending rain.

Acea looked up and watched as the clouds began to gather. Hiroshi also noticed, and excused himself.

"Nice to meet you Naruto and Gaara."

Standing up he said, "Acea, would you like me to walk you back to your apartment?"

Acea looked from Hiroshi to her new friends and shook her head.

"Nah, I think I can find my way from here."

Hiroshi nodded and gave her a smile before poofing outside.

Gaara took care of the bill and they walked out onto the streets.

They had walked through the streets chatting (actually, Naruto was chatting, Acea and Gaara were listening)

Naruto stopped, and looked up as if just noticing the rain clouds.

"Uck, rain. We should probably find someplace to stay if it starts to rain."

"Well…. I need to go find my other teammate; it was great meeting you guys. I'll see you later."

She turned, and started walking the other way, hoping to beat the rain.

After she left, Naruto slung an arm over Gaara's shoulder.

"You like her, don't you?"

Gaara looked as surprised as Gaara could get, which wasn't very much, but you get the picture.

"What makes you think that?"

Naruto grinned mischievously as he patted his friend on the back.

"Come on, don't deny it. You paid for her dinner. You NEVER pay for anyone but yourself. You just need to learn more about her. Who knows, maybe you'll even get over the whole loving only yourself thing..."

There was no response, Gaara only continued walking, leaving Naruto behind.

"Hey, Gaara, wait up!" Naruto called out to him.

Gaara didn't falter as he continued walking, ignoring Naruto completely. A small splat echoed through the emptying streets, followed closely by another, and another, until it was pouring rain.

"Aw great," Naruto mumbled to himself, giving up on following Gaara and headed over to the first building he could find that would shelter him from the rain.

Gaara grumbled to himself as he also made his through the streets to find refuge. He waved good-bye to Naruto and headed towards the room he had rented in town.

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A/N: Okay, there's chapter one. Yes, its kind of long, but for the first few chapters, I'll be introducing more characters and such. Stay tuned for more! 


	2. Chapter 2 Part 1

Yay! Here' chapter 2 part 1...

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Acea trudged towards her apartment, getting pounded by the rain. Within a few minutes, she was completely lost. 

"Great..."

"Acea?"

Acea spun around to see Gaara, standing, holding an umbrella over his head.

"What are you doing out here in the rain?"

She folded her arms over her chest.

"I could ask you the same question."

She saw a shadow of a smile on his lips, which was something she hadn't seen while they were eating dinner.

"...Well..."

Gaara pulled the umbrella over head, protecting it from the rain.

"You look lost... can I walk you to your apartment?"

This defintely wasn't the same Gaara that had she had met a few hours ago. He started walking away, leaving her in the rain.

"Hey wait!"

He didn't stop for her. Grumbling to herself, Acea ran after him.

"Okay, fine, have it your way..."

"How far away is your apartment from here?"

Acea thought about it as she looked at the paper the Hokage had given here.

"I don't know..." She handed the paper over to him.

"Oh, that's about five miles from here."

Gaara nodded and the rest of the walk was in complete silence, save for the sound of the rain falling.

Once they got there, Ami opened the door and ran out to meeting them. She gave Gaara an odd look, before raising an eyebrow at the rain-soaked Acea.

"I'l see you later. Good night Acea."

With that Gaara left, and Ami went into interrogation mode.

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Sorry guys, I had to redo this part of the chapter, but I couldn't put on the file i had because... i dont know... but anyways, Thank you Kyra-chan for your creview, I hope you enjoy the story . Oh and so you know... SPOILER ALERT this is after he has the demon pulled out, so I figured he might be a bit nicer... but you never know...  



	3. Chapter 2 Part 2

-.- ok here's chapter 2 part 2, I'm having a hard time figuring this site out so... one again, please bear with me "

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"Ok, spill Acea, what were you doing with that guy for the past few hours?"

Acea sighed and told her about getting lost, and Gaara coming to her "rescue".

Ami listen attentively and nodded here and there.

"Huh, ok… Guess whom I got to spend the day with… Kiba! He is so sweet, and he has dogs too and loves animals and…"

"Oh boy," Acea thought, "This is going to be a long night…"

The dark kitten watched as Gaara left the girl's apartment and headed for his own. It followed until he was inside. Satisfied, the kitten ran to the Hokage's office, and snuck its way past the ANBU that kept watch. Jumping on to a tree, the cat jumped from branch to branch until it was close to a window and leaped over to it. The window was open a fraction of a centimeter, but sliding the tip of it claw under it, the cat was able to lift it up high enough for her to slide under. There were two doors, one that led towards the Hokage's office, the other led to where she needed to go.

Stealthily making its way towards that room, she used her claw as a pick and unlocked the door.

Once inside, she saw the person she had been waiting to meet, and changed into her normal form. Rin nodded to the cloaked figure wearing an ANBU mask, but she knew that he wasn't. The figure removed his hood and smiled at Rin.

"It's good to see you again, Rin-san."

She nodded gravely at the sound ninja.

"It has been a while, huh, Kabuto?"

Even though the Sand was no longer officially affiliated with the Sound Tribe, she still kept in touch with her most reliable source of information.

"What can you tell me about Gaara?"

He smirked as he drew his ninja info cards from his cloak.

"He's the youngest son of the former Kazekage. He has been on several A and B rank missions without receiving so much as a scratch."

Rin stood in shock at this.

"But that's impossible!" she protested.

Kabuto shrugged as he handed her the card.

Her eyes skimmed through the info card when she noticed something.

"This can't be possible! What would he be doing here if he's the-"

There was a knock on the door.

Kabuto took the card from her with a glare.

"You told someone about this meeting!"

"Wait. NO!"

He started towards the room that Rin had entered through. Someone was trying to get through the opposite door. Jumping from the open window, Kabuto made his escape, leaving Rin without knowing all the information she needed.

The doorknob was turning and she walked backwards, ready for her back to hit the wall. The door flung open, revealing a tall silhouette. Thankfully the room she was in was dark, so he couldn't see her yet.

"Who's there?" the voice demanded in a sophisticated tone.

"Oh no…. Not Baki…" she thought as she took a few steps back. Rin expected to feel her back hit against the wall. But instead of a wall, she fell back into open air. Tumbling out of the window, she knew it was only a matter of time before the ground swiftly met her.

Kakashi and Iruka were walking slowly in the rain. They had recently made it a tradition to go for a walk in the evenings, rain or no rain.

"Come on Kakashi, you've got to get yourself a girlfriend. I mean, even **_I _**have a girlfriend."

Kakashi rolled his eye, and brought his hands out in frustration.

"Listen Iruka, girlfriends just don't fall out of the sky yah know."

What happened next made their jaw drops. Falling from the sky into Kakashi's arms was Rin.

Startled and embarrassed, Rin pushed out of his arms and ran off, down an alley. It only took Kakashi a split second to recover from his shock, to go follow her. All the while, leaving Iruka standing there by himself in the rain. Too stunned to move, he first tried putting one foot in front of the other. After moving about a foot away, he heard a thud.

Turning around, he saw Baki face down on the pavement.

"Uh… hey Baki?" There was no response. Walking over and crouching down next to him, he grabbed a stick and poked his unconscious friend.

"Baaaaaaaaaaaaki…"

Iruka sighed as he tried to pick him up and carry him back to the building.

"You know, when you pursue an enemy, usually you find a DIFFERENT way of following."

His only response was a grunt, a sophisticated grunt, and Iruka smiled to himself.

"Well, at least he's not dead…"

Acea wanted to pull her ears off so she wouldn't have to listen to Ami go on and on and on about Kiba.

"After Hokage-sama put me with Kiba for the day, Kiba introduced himself and his dog, Akamaru. He is so cute!"

Acea wondered whether she was referring to Kiba or the dog.

"He showed me all the really cool parts of Konoha and even took me to this secret spot he has, that only he and Akamaru know of. Since he liked me so much, he wanted to share it with me too. Isn't that sweet?"

Acea wanted to gag.

"And then at lunch, we ate at their secret spot and watched our dogs play. Akamaru seemed to get along great with Freddy and Jason. When lunch was over, he offered to walk me home, and we had to run to avoid getting really wet. He came in for a little while to dry off and have some of the cookies you and I had baked yesterday."

Actually, Ami made them herself, all Acea did was lick the bowl and wash the dishes.

"And then he had to go, but promised he'd walk me to the training grounds tomorrow morning. I tell you, he is just the sweetest guy you will ever meet."

Acea buried her head under her pillow. How much longer was she going to have to endure this? Ami kept chattering on about how it was interesting that both she and Kiba had those strange markings on their faces. And how they both liked dogs. Acea finally thought of something.

"Yah, and wouldn't it be weird if it turned out you guys were related?"

Ami's mouth shut as she thought of this startling new revelation. After a few minutes, she shook her head.

"I doubt that would be the case, since he's from the leaf tribe and I'm from the sand tribe."

Acea shrugged as she slid out of bed.

"I'm going to get some fresh air, it's a little stuffy in here."

Grabbing her robe, she pulled it on as she walked out of their bedroom and opened the balcony's door. The cool air from outside was fresh and crisp. Acea took a deep breath, and stepped out. The rain had stopped to a light drizzle that the overhang provided cover from. The night breeze blew recklessly through her hair and rustled her robe. Even the moon, though slightly shrouded in clouds, was making an appearance tonight.

Sighing, she walked over to the railing and leaned over, watching the streets that were empty save for the few stray cats and dogs running here and there. Peace filled her broken soul and everything seemed… right. Ever since her parents' death, her lonely life had become even lonelier. Rin had found her, and taken her in, willing to instruct her in the ways of the ninja. And it was all so she could take revenge on her parents' killer. She didn't know his name, but the third eye tattooed on his forehead was burned into her memory forever. It was just like the mark he had left on her, a curse that she would never forget her mistake that had cost her parent's life. The relief that had briefly filled her fled at the memories and her soul shattered. A shiver ran down her spine and she willed to tears not to fall, but they came of their own will and stained her face. Viciously wiping them away, pain emanated from the curse mark and Acea fell to her knees and cried. The searing pain in her heart, mind, and soul was almost too much for her to bear. Her sobs were lost in rain that began to come down harder. Why did this have to happen to her? Why did she have to be so weak? She hated herself all the more for it. Her childhood memories forced their back; through the mental barriers she had strived so hard to put up. Back to when her mother used to sing her sleep, back to how her father had carried her in his arms when she was too tired to walk. The love both of them had shown her, the love they all had shared. Then he came, and it all changed. The man had come to their village demanding her father give him their family's sacred scrolls that contained information for a powerful jutsu. When her father refused, he had sworn that he would kill each and ever last person in the village. Being only four, she thought that it'd be best to do as he said. Sneaking into her parents' room, she took the sacred scrolls the man had asked for and brought them to him. Her parents saw her leave and chased after her, yelling at her to stop. She could clearly remember the terror on her mother's face as she watched her child hand their most prized possession to the evil man. Once she handed him the scrolls, he patted her on the head, but it was in no way a nice or caring gesture.

"Thank you, and because of your cooperation…"

Pulling out some shurikens, he aimed and cut the throats of her parents.

Struggling out of his grip, Acea ran to her father, tears blinding her as she ran. He looked up at her, blood spilling from his parted lips. His eyes were soft, and he brought a hand up to caress her face.

"My little desert rose…"

His hand went limp and his eyes lost focus. Her mother was already dead, lying next to her father, staring at her with the same unseeing eyes. The sound of footsteps echoed behind her and the man took some of their blood and wiped it on her face.

"See what you've done little one?"

Then he left her with the bodies of her parents, and he and a group of rogue ninjas proceeded to kill the rest of the villagers. Acea was left completely alone in the village, which had been burned down in the massacre. Before the man left, he placed a scarred hand on her back and placed the curse mark there.

"You will always bear my mark little one. You would do well to listen to your elders. I won't kill you, but I'll give you some time to think about what it is you've done. Your curse will be that you can never forget this, and don't worry; the sacred scrolls are in good hands. When the time is right, I'll return, and you will be mine!"

And with that, he left. .

After a month, there had been no word from the village, and the Kazekage was getting suspicious and sent one of his new ANBU to investigate. Rin traveled to the village, with two other ANBU members, only to find the charred remains of what had been a prosperous town. Death hung thickly in the air, almost masking the presence of that which it had not seized in its cold grasp. Rin found Acea near the bodies of her parents. The young girl sat on the ground, motionless, and staring blankly at nothing. Rin had gathered the young girl in her arms, and taking compassion on her, brought her back with her, and had showed her the basics of ninja training.

Acea opened her eyes, the memories of her past leaving as quickly as they had come. Ami didn't know of her past, not even Hiroshi, only Rin. Acea sighed and dried her tears. She had had this happen to her before, but never with such force. The memory of the man cursing her flashed before her eyes and she grimaced at the pain shooting down her spine.

Standing up, she walked back inside, ignoring how stuffy it was, and climbed back into bed. Ami was dead asleep, and mumbled every now and then about a candy cane or puppy. Acea smiled faintly as sleep over took her.


	4. Chapter 3

Yay, another chapter, this one is going tocenter a bit more on Ami and Kiba in the beginning, and there will be a new character coming in. Thank you Kyra-chan for your comments, they have been a great encouragement to me. . okay, on to the story…. 

Enter Kana, The Apologetic Ninja

"Hey Acea, Kiba's here, we're going out to breakfast. I'll see you at the training grounds."

Acea gave a half-hearted wave before going back to her onigiri.

Ami watched as her friend's food missed her mouth entirely; Acea seemed a little distracted this morning…

"So Ami, what is it like where you're from?"

Kiba's voice brought her back to here and now.

"Huh? Oh, well its pretty much desert, but where I'm from, it's an oasis with palm trees bigger than these buildings and our village was famous for its dog." She sighed happily at the memory.

"It's really cool, I hope I'll be able to show you it someday."

Kiba grinned.

"Me too, it sounds really nice. And what are your parents like?"

Ami shrugged.

"They're like any other parents I guess, except my dad is the village's top dog breeder." The pride was very evident in her voice.

"That's cool. Hey we're here. What would you like for breakfast?"

Ami sat down at a booth and skimmed through the menu.

"I don't know, everything looks so good… Hey they serve western breakfasts here. Wanna try one of those?"

Kiba grinned.

"Sure."

The waiter soon came and filled their orders. They chatted about different things until their food came. Two plates of toast, eggs, sausage, and pancakes were set in front of them. Ami stared at the food wide-eyed.

"How are we going to eat all this?"

Kiba smirked.

"Easy! You pick up a fork, and put it in your mouth, like so."

Ami giggled as she followed suit.

———————————————————————-

Acea ran as fast as she could towards the training grounds, trying to balance her scrolls as she did.

"Shoot, I'm going to be late….again!"

She was so preoccupied with being late, that she never noticed the girl that had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

BAM!

Acea hit her dead on, and the girl went flying. She fell on her bum in an undignified manner and tried to pick up the scrolls that had gone flying from her hands.

"I'M SORRY!"

Acea popped her head up.

"Huh?"

The girl she had hit into was frantically trying to pick up the scrolls.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…."

Acea put her hand up to stop her.

"Wait, wait, wait. Stop. It's not your fault. I hit into you."

"I'm sorry…"

"STOP IT!"

"Sorry…."

Acea smacked her hand against her face. She finished gathering the scrolls, and took the ones the girl had picked up.

"What's your name anyway?"

The girl seemed to brighten up considerably.

"I'm Kana Aiko."

The girl had almost waist length hair, all black except for the two streaks of metallic purple that hung over her shoulder. She had a silver snake wrapped around her right arm, and a ninja band was tied around her right ankle.

Acea eyed it for a moment.

"You're from the Mist Tribe?"

Kana looked surprised.

"How did you know?"

She pointed to her own headband.

"The head band kind of gave it away."

"Oh…"

"So what are you doing here anyway?"

Kana looked down at her feet for a moment.

"Well…. I was kinda kicked outta my training squad for being too apologetic…"

"TRAINING!"

Acea had forgotten all about that…

"I'M GOING TO BE SO LATE!"

"Sorry…"

Acea scowled as she started running again. The entire time, she kept thinking, "I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're late Acea."

Acea trudged to the training grounds, embarrassed at her tardiness.

Hiroshi was already there of course, but it looked like he just arrived too.

"What's your excuse today?"

She rolled her eyes as she tossed her scrolls down near a tree.

"Would you believe me if I said I ran into an apologetic psycho?"

Hiroshi laughed out loud at her excuse.

"I might, its more believable than other excuses I've heard."

"I'm sorry…"

Both eyes turned to the source of the voice.

"I ran into Acea-chan, and caused her to be late. I'm so sorry."

Hiroshi looked back and forth between Acea and the new girl.

"And you are?"

"I'm Kana Aiko, from the Mist Tribe."

Hiroshi smiled.

"Welcome Kana, Are you here for the training program too? You are? Acea, if you don't mind, I'm going to walk Kana to the Hokage's office. Apologize to Rin Sensei for me when or if she decides to show up."

"That's right." Acea thought. "Rin Sensei isn't here either…"

"Okay Hiroshi. Ami should be here soon anyway so we'll practice something. Have fun meeting Tsunade-sama, Kana."

Kana smiled as she waved, then to Hiroshi said, "I'm sorry if I was interrupting your training…"

Hiroshi chuckled as he walked beside her.

"It's no problem. Our sensei wasn't even there yet anyway."

"I'm sorry."

"…."

Acea spotted Ami and Kiba walking towards her holding hands. (Aaaaaawwwww)

"Hey guys."

They spotted her and waved.

Kiba gave Ami a quick peck on the cheek.

"Hey I gotta go, but I'll see you at lunch okay?"

Ami nodded as he ran back to wherever his three-man squad was meeting.

"Isn't he the greatest?"

Acea held back a smart-alec comment.

"If you say so… but haven't you guys only known each other a day?"

Ami smiled as she draped her arm over her friend's shoulder.

"Come on, let's wait for Rin Sensei."

She evaded her question completely.

"For once, you're the only one that's on time…."

Ami started running before Acea could smack her.

————————————————————————

Hiroshi walked next to Kana as he was showing her around Konoha. Tsunade-sama had requested that he show her around, since it was the first day of training he probably wouldn't miss much anyway.

"Don't worry if Acea seemed kinda mad when you met her. She can act tough, but deep down, she's a really nice person."

Kana nodded, and they continued the tour.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"

They both turned around and saw a young man with short black hair, garbed in a black belly shirt, with black pants.

"What do you want Sai?"

Sai ignored him and walked over to Kana, taking her hand.

"Do you have a map?"

Kana looked confused.

"Um… No... Why?"

"Because I keep getting lost in your eyes."

Hiroshi rolled his eyes.

"Oh brother. Come on Kana, we need to finish that tour."

Sai just held onto her hands, not ready to leave.

"But I just wanted…"

"Sai, Sasuke came back, we don't need you any more. Go away."

All eyes turned to the young man standing behind

Sai.

He had dark brown, not quite waist length hair, gathered at the bottom with a hair tie. His white eyes shone with annoyance at his companion. Stepping between the two, he took Kana's hand from Sai's, but didn't let it go.

"Aw come on Neji, I was just admiring her beauty…"

"Then do it from afar. Let's go."

Letting go of her hand, he pushed Sai away.

Pouting, he left reluctantly, but not before sending Neji a death glare. He ignored it, and turned to Kana.

"You'll have to forgive Sai. He can be obnoxious and annoying, but after awhile you get used to it."

Kana opened her mouth to apologize, but Hiroshi clamped a hand over it.

"Well, we better get going. See yah around Neji."

Pulling his hands away, Kana waved to Neji before following after Hiroshi.

Neji watched them until they were out of sight.

"Don't get any ideas, she's mine."

"Get a life Sai."

————————————————————————

Ami looked around, wondering where their Sensei was.

"Hey Acea, do you think we should look for her?"

Acea, who was leaning against a tree, swore under her breath.

"This is getting frustrating. She should have been here an hour ago!"

She pounded the tree angrily. There was a rustle above them, and with a thud, Rin fell out of the tree. Acea jumped and Ami screamed. Rin's eyes snapped open and took in her surroundings.

"Am I at the training grounds?" she asked.

Acea fell over.

"Rin Sensei, where have you been? We've been waiting here for the past hour!"

Rin thought through what had happened the night before. Visions of falling out the window, landing in Kakashi's arms, and running away like a maniac, flashed through her mind.

"Have I been up there the whole night?" she thought to herself.

She looked at her students who were waiting for an answer.

"I was um... hiding there… to uh... see if you guys would be able to detect me. Obviously, we have a lot to learn as far as being able to detect an enemy who might be lying in wait."

Ami smiled and nodded, Acea looked doubtful but didn't press the matter.

"Okay for today's mission…"

* * *

Kakashi woke up with a start. Looking up, the first thing he saw was a big cow face.

"NANDAA????????"

"Oh good you're awake."

Looking beyond the cow face, Kakashi saw an old man in farm overalls, leaning against the wall of the barn.

"I thought you'd never wake up."

He sat up slowly, thinking through what had happened the night before.

Visions of walking with Iruka, catching a beautiful girl that fell from the sky, and chasing after her, flashed through his mind. He had pursued her late into the night, but was unable to find her. The last thing he remembered was running, then slowing to jog, and then a walk… and apparently had collapsed.

"Yah gave me a scare there sonny. I tried to wake yah up, but yah didn't."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. The farmer looked at him curiously.

"That must have been one strong drink to knock yah out like that."

Kakashi fell back to the ground.

"What time is it?"

The old man looked outside.

"Well, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say almost noon."

Kakashi got up quickly and made a mad dash for door. He looked outside to see all farmlands.

"Where am I?"

The farmer walked over and stood next to him.

"You're in Farmsdale, I named it myself."

Kakashi's one eye opened wide. That was at least fifty miles away from the village.

"Yah, ol' Bessie here carried yah all the way."

Turning to the old farmer, he said, "Thank you for your uh... hospitality, Mr. Uh…"

"I'm Akoto Chika, you should stick around and meet my daughter sometime…"

"That's nice, but I really should be going."

The old farmer nodded, "Nice to meetcha sonny, come by any time to say hi to me or Bessie."

Kakashi waved as he started running back to town.

"Poor Naruto, Sakura, and Sasake. They must be so worried about me…."

* * *

"Hey Naruto, pass the ramen."

"Sure thing Sasuke."

Sakura looked between the two and sweatdropped.

"Aren't you guys even a little worried about Kakashi Sensei?"  
They stopped, looked from Sakura to each other to Sakura again, and started laughing.

"Nope, want some ramen?"  



End file.
